The recipe for a perfect PR survey

Having worked in PR research since 2007, I’ve witnessed first-hand the evolution of PR surveys from being quick, short polls, into in-depth and all-encompassing research projects.

PR surveys used to be exclusively designed for PR and Communications teams wanting to achieve page-lead newspaper coverage from a single survey. Today however, PR agencies and in-house teams are under pressure to use data to create and distribute a multitude of content across a wide range of platforms and channels.

Here at OnePoll, we’ve grown with the industry and always tailored our offering to provide PRs the best research and service possible – matching each client’s specific needs and desired outcomes.

We have conducted thousands of surveys for the PR industry alone. There have always been constants with each project. There are always areas that the research has to cover in order to ensure clients get the most out of their research and that the stats hold up to scrutiny once they go to press.

Here are my top 5 ways to ensure your PR research is up to scratch:

1. Ask as many questions as you can

If you’re going to venture into the PR survey jungle, ensure you get bang for your buck. A lot of the cost involved with research goes into the set-up of the project, so adding additional questions can be surprisingly cost-effective once you’ve decided on a rough budget.

The beauty of a PR survey is you can come up with all sorts of talkative angles that you didn’t think about at the start. So where possible, expand on topics that you think will give you the best contrasting stats as you never know what hidden gems will jump out at you to help with your story.

2. Mix up the question types

When conducting a survey, you want the panel to be as open and as honest as possible when answering. One of the best ways to achieve this is to vary the format of your survey questions in order that the respondent doesn’t become bored.

Use pictures where possible and rather than just simple ‘tick one’ options, see if the panel can give you more than one answer to a question, or ask them to rank things in order. This will engage the panelist and better engagement means better stats!

3. Avoid leading questions

One of the biggest challenges we face with online research is allowing panelists to be as honest and accurate as possible when providing their survey responses. As well as monitoring our panel closely, it’s important to ensure each question is worded in a way for panelists to express themselves honestly and in full.

Being corporate members of ESOMAR and closely linked with the MRS, we work hard on data and panel quality. Ensure you work closely with your research provider to make sure that your questions not only work for your needs, but also provide you with good quality data.

4. Analyse cross-breaks

Cross-breaks are a PR’s best friend. These give you the vital comparisons that are so sought after to generate that tasty headline. Also they give you a lot to talk about further down your story and can help you create something more visually appealing like an infographic or video for example.

As standard, ensure you have gender, age and regional breakdowns with your results. However, some of the best comparisons can be derived from looking at additional data splits, such as looking at specific ages within a gender. Make sure you use all the data available to you.

5. Ensure the survey is nationally representative (nat rep)

One of the most popular lines within a PR survey story is “xx% of Brits think…”. How can a survey claim to know what all Brits think? By ensuring the survey is ‘nationally representative’.

This means that we take each segment of the UK population (using the latest ONS stats) and ensuring the right proportion from each demographics take part in the survey. For example, in nationally representative surveys, it’s important to ensure over 55’s account for 36% of the total panel sampled.

Bear in mind that this works when speaking to the general population and isn’t so important when talking to specific demographics, such as pet owners, or mums.

Their friendly and responsive service is competitively priced, yet they go out their way to address our business needs…they’ve turned around results for us quickly, but not without providing care and due diligence to ensure our surveys are effective as possible. I highly recommend OnePoll.

David BrooksEMAP

OnePoll were a perfect partner for us; exceptional customer service, always replying quickly and thoughtfully. They delivered everything we asked for on-time, and never wavered in their commitment to get us what we needed to determine the best path forward. I can envision a long and perfectly-formed relationship.

Nigel RothPartner, Davies+McKerr

Thank you for all your hard work. The client has been extremely pleased with the presentation and analysis that the survey results fed into. I would have no hesitation in recommending you and the team to others.

Alfie SimPartner, Agent Within

You and your colleagues were absolutely great to work with – all very helpful, accommodating and the results are solid and returned with such a quick turnaround too. Very impressive.

Tom DukesonLily Pad PR

OnePoll were great to work with. Their clear understanding of our commercial needs allowed for a flexible and efficient research project. This approach is invaluable to our small, fast-growing business. We’ll certainly come back to the team for future projects.

Paul DazeleyHead of Marketing at Kabuto Noodles

OnePoll were quick, responsive and efficient at recruiting for our online psychology research study. The sample they recruited was as we requested, and we shall certainly be using them again.

Dr Suzanna ForwoodResearch Associate, Institute of Public Health

I have been amazed by OnePoll’s ability to get high level interviews, especially those in niche audiences at C-Level. They are very responsive and attentive to all of my project needs.

Christopher LawrenceDirector of Research, Finn Partners

The service levels we receive from OnePoll are first class. They totally understand the pressures arising from our fast-paced business and can be relied upon to add value to our own thinking.

Bristol

New York

I have been amazed by OnePoll’s ability to get high level interviews, especially those in niche audiences at C-Level. They are very responsive and attentive to all of my project needs.

Christopher LawrenceDirector of Research, Finn Partners

OnePoll were a perfect partner for us; exceptional customer service, always replying quickly and thoughtfully. They delivered everything we asked for on-time, and never wavered in their commitment to get us what we needed to determine the best path forward. I can envision a long and perfectly-formed relationship.

Nigel RothPartner, Davies+McKerr

The bowel cancer research we conducted with you received so much regional broadcast coverage – including a full day of reports and phone-ins with people recognising some symptoms and promising to get checked out. The volume of traffic to the symptoms page on the website shows that it can’t fail to have saved some lives as a result. An awesome result, thank you.

Anna MurrayPR Director at Formedia

Thank you for all your hard work. The client has been extremely pleased with the presentation and analysis that the survey results fed into. I would have no hesitation in recommending you and the team to others.

Alfie SimPartner, Agent Within

OnePoll are great to work with. They provide excellent project turnaround times from start to finish, making things much easier when dealing with our research requirements. Their research really adds to our content and helps enhance a topic for our viewers.

Vivek SharmaGood Morning Britain (ITV)

The service levels we receive from OnePoll are first class. They totally understand the pressures arising from our fast-paced business and can be relied upon to add value to our own thinking.

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